PistolPete Posted November 18, 2005 Author Share Posted November 18, 2005 Yeah, the karting guys are really cool and they understand because we all complain about the cost... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 (edited) Pistol Pete: Beautiful Kart and what a great lookin track ! I bought a kart in '99. Nothing like yours though (Italikart, Yamaha Can class, Spec Bridgestone rubber ect...). I had a GREAT time with it until I went back to College in '01. I miss it...don't rule out buying another one in a year or two. Edited November 18, 2005 by Chuck D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted November 19, 2005 Author Share Posted November 19, 2005 I'm so on the fence with this idea. Since mentioning it to the wife she is all excited. I have 2 indoor tracks that I can still go to. Not quite as fun but way less expensive. One of the tracks has a special on Saturdays for $99 where you can race from 9 am to 2 pm. By doing the indoor karting I can get out of speed aggression for a lot less money. Plus, when going to the indoor track most of the people you race against don't know what they're doing and you can usually lap them like crazy. Not quite the case with the Rotax series. LOL I just wish it wasn't so expensive and time consuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 Hmm, I feel your pain, personnally what I am planning this year is to do more shooting...but the racing I do, even though it's less frequent will satisfy the racer in me. I'm building a car with a partner for enduro racing, 3 hour enduros to be specific. Theres currently only two on the schedule for next year, but they draw alot of attention (my partner owns his own garage and the car will be sponsored by it) so I get the best of both. Website: http://www.patharrison.ca/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted November 19, 2005 Author Share Posted November 19, 2005 I think I need to just find a new hobby. Something on the lines of bird watching... HEHE I have too many expensive hobbies. Lets see... Shooting... Kart Racing... Cars... Snowmobiling... And they all cost a lot of money.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 Oh? And you think bird watching is cheap? Sure, you can get started with your cheapie Bushnell glass but pretty soon if it isn' Leica or Zeiss or some other high zoot glass it just is crap. Then you decide you need to take pictures of your pretty birds. $15K in digital cameras and longggggg, high quality glass later... Then you get tired of seeing the birds around your home area and start travelling to see other birds. First it is just in your region, then all across north america and first thing you know you are travelling to Australia and the Amazon to see the really pretty birds. This is the story of a retired professor friend of my parents. Stick with shooting...it reallllly is cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Then you decide you need to take pictures of your pretty birds. $15K in digital cameras and longggggg, high quality glass later...This is the story of a retired professor friend of my parents. Stick with shooting...it reallllly is cheaper. 15K? He bought the cheap stuff...... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 15K? He bought the cheap stuff...... Canon 1Ds Mk II + 600/4L IS = $15K or, is that, 3 race guns + mags, and some ammo? Depending on what you're doing, $15K doesn't get you all that much camera.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubbie686 Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I'm so on the fence with this idea. Since mentioning it to the wife she is all excited. I have 2 indoor tracks that I can still go to. Not quite as fun but way less expensive. One of the tracks has a special on Saturdays for $99 where you can race from 9 am to 2 pm. By doing the indoor karting I can get out of speed aggression for a lot less money. Plus, when going to the indoor track most of the people you race against don't know what they're doing and you can usually lap them like crazy. Not quite the case with the Rotax series. LOL I just wish it wasn't so expensive and time consuming. Pete - Lemme start by saying that my dad I and raced karts from 79 until 86 when I turned 16 and we would have had to start competing against each other. 5HP Briggs on oval dirt tracks all over Southwest Nebraska/Northwest Kansas. Some of my fondest memories with my old man were from that era. We raced every Friday night and Sunday afternoon. MAN!!!! I LOVE RACING!! Last winter I started looking into Karting again because you just don't get racing out of your blood and it seemed the only way I could get into it for the kind of money I was looking to spend to be competitive. I never did buy a kart, even though the wife gave me the big thumbs up. I'm not saying that I never will, and a 125 Shifter will be the bees knees, lemme tell ya. I think the solution you came up with is a good one. Race a less competitive (read $$) league and have a blast at both sports. I also ride a Yamaha R1, and try to do as many track days as I can...but that is another sport that can eat up the dollars pretty quickly. I never raced (except against buddies at the track) but it, without a doubt, fills my need for speed each and every time I go. You could get a decent track bike for around 5K, full leathers and saftey gear for another 1K and have at it! Options...options -Stubbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 One other option I have is that I can still race at the indoor tracks that are fairly close by. The karts are nothing like the ones outdoors but the good thing is that you just show up, race, and then go home. You don't have to worry about buying tires, fixing broken parts, hauling the trailer, cleaning the kart, loading and unloading the trailer, etc. I'm thinking I could go indoor karting one and a while and get it out of my system. The other option is if I keep all my safety gear I can rent a kart from one of the kart shops for $250 for the day. It wouldn't be setup exactly for me but so what... Then I show up, give him $250 and I'm good to go. I have the devil and angel on my shoulders. The Devil says keep the kart and suck it up while the angel tells me to sell the kart and buy another blaster and just shoot all the time... hmmmmmmm..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R/T Performance Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 My wife would rather see me racing than shooting but the time and cost to be competive is a real killer.I need to check are local indoor carts to see if they have somthing like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 Ok... Here we go.... "Hi my name is Dave (murmered Hi Daves) and I am also a karting addict. " I have raced most every class that a situp can race, sprint, speedway, enduro, and more than a couple of street races. I started in '85 and mostly got out in '95. I figured at that time that making payments on a house would be cheaper than running every weekend at some track some place. At the end I was mostly racing Modified B&S (around 20 hp) in speedway and sprint. My dad and I even started marketing custom chassis and he still builds motors here for the locals. I built quite a few fully ballanced clutches for the 2 cycle classes and was running a prototype dry axle clutch even on the box stock classes. After that time I went to flyfishing, as it was cheaper, so I bought the medium sized trout setup (a 5 weight) plus all the accessories, $500 for the rod, $ 200 for reel and line, another $200 for waders and boots, $150 for vest with all the gadjets. Oh yeah, I wanted to fly fish in the surf now, another $ 500 for a 8 weight rod, another $200 for another reel and line. Now the ultralight bug hit and I needed a 2 weight for small streams.. you guessed it, another $700 for another setup. Ok now I guess I should put in travel money to actualy get to the water. Hey the closest trout water is 4 plus hours away, gas, food, lodging for 20-30 weekends per year and then the annual Yellowstone trip/s. I did figure out a way to save money though, stop me if you also have fell for something simular, I started tying my own flys. Now, I won't go into how many $$$ are wrapped up in that end of it, but I did start tying full dressed atlantic salmon flys in the last few years. Not the cheapest feathers in the world there. Last year I started dating this young lady who said she shot a bit, turns out she was a revolver shooter from here who ended up going to Equador to the WS. Needless to say my son and I were pulled in and imersed in yet another hobby. Both he and I shoot the rev stuff AND autos in the various venues here. Oh, I heard that you would save money by reloading, so now I am a card wearing out member of team blue. Graff and sons is on the speed dial, the local pistol smith is darn near networked to my computer, the last couch I picked out was coordinated to my gunsafe, and the newest artwork on the walls has tape patching the charlie hits. My son is no better though, at 11, I got his Xmas list last night. 1) Hogue custom wood grip for 686 2) trigger job for either XD-9 or 686. 3) CR Speed holster 4) 511 tac pants (too bad they don't make 'em in cracker a$$ waist size). You have to I guess choose which of the cheap sports you want to go play. I do like the shooting sports for their "race" qualities. Here instead of a green start flag, you get a start beep, and then it's a dash to the finish line. Even after my first match I was near the bottom of the finish order, but had the adrenalin pumping, and was a happy camper to be racing again. I still ave yet to find a cheap hobby, I guess a person can go to the extreme on and possible hobby and it will get expensive. So you try to max out the fun factor and leave the worries of life behind while you are busy grinning.. just my $ .02 Dave Wilson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted November 26, 2005 Author Share Posted November 26, 2005 Dave, Great reply... I totally agree with you 100%. If I get out of racing then I'm going to sell my karting gear and buy a $4000 race gun. It is still very expensive but the cost isn't as much when I go shooting. That is the biggest thing. Whenever I go karting it is a $350 fee minimum plus 4+ hours prepping the kart, and 4 hours in the car. When I go shooting all it costs is the ammo that I reload. For around $250 I can shoot 2500 rounds. See where I'm getting at? Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now